Act to provide for the gradual development of self-governing Bantu national units and for direct consultation between the Government of the Union and the said national units in regard to matters affecting the interests of such national units; to amend the Native Administration Act, 1927, the Native Trust and Land Act, 1936, and the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951, and to repeal the Representation of Natives Act, 1936; and to provide for other incidental matters.

The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, 1959 (Act No. 46 of 1959, commenced 19 June; subsequently renamed the Promotion of Black Self-government Act, 1959 and later the Representation between the Republic of South Africa and Self-governing Territories Act, 1959) was a piece of South Africanapartheid legislation that allowed for the transformation of traditional tribal lands into "fully fledged independent states Bantustans" which would allow self-determination for the numerous tribal groups. It also resulted in the abolition of parliamentary representation for Blacks, an act furthered in 1970 with the passage of the Black Homeland Citizenship Act.

The African tribes were mainly composed of eight different tribal ethnic language groups, each of which was provided with a Commissioner-General who was entrusted with the development of their assigned State into a self-governing state. As part of self-determination, blacks were expected to exercise their political rights in the homelands, not in South Africa.